Gravitational Induction with Weber’s Force
M. Tajmar and A. K. T. Assis∗
Institute of Aerospace Engineering
Technische Universität Dresden
01062 Dresden, Germany
Email: martin.tajmar@tu-dresden.de
∗ Institute of Physics ‘Gleb Wataghin’
University of Campinas — UNICAMP
13083-859 Campinas, SP, Brazil
Email: assis@ifi.unicamp.br
Homepage: www.ifi.unicamp.br/~assis
Abstract
According to Faraday’s law of induction, when we change the current
intensity in a primary electric circuit we can induce a current in a secondary circuit under appropriate conditions. An electric current means
charges in motion. Microscopically we can express Faraday’s law by saying
that when we accelerate charges in the primary circuit, a force is exerted
on charges of the secondary circuit which can accelerate them. A similar
effect also exists in gravity with accelerated masses but of course with
much less intensity. The phenomenon is called frame dragging and can
be derived from general relativity theory. Here we present an alternative
way to calculate such gravitational induction forces based on Weber’s law
which only involves simple mathematics and incorporates other fundamental concepts such as Newton’s third law and Mach’s principle as the
origin of inertia. It therefore summarizes all low velocity gravitationallyrelevant effects into a single equation.
Key Words: Electromagnetic induction. Gravitational induction. Relational mechanics.
PACS: 41.20.Gz (Magnetic induction), 84.32.Hh (Coils, induction).
1
1
Introduction
Frame dragging (also called the Lense-Thirring effect) is a well-known phenomenon in general relativity. It affects e.g. the trajectory of satellites in
polar orbit or generates precession forces on spinning gyroscopes. This effect
has been experimentally verified most notably with the LAGEOS and GravityProbe B missions.[1, 2] General relativity involves advanced mathematics which
is not easily accessible to undergraduate students or engineers, therefore scientists tried to derive a simple framework to calculate these effects which is called
Gravitomagnetism.[3, 4, 5, 6, 7] Forward was one of the first scientists to derive
a set of Maxwell-like equations[8] that allow to calculate frame-dragging effects
similar to electromagnetic effects in the weak-field and low-speed limit of general
relativity.
We will show that the same effects can be derived out of Weber’s force
law[9, 10, 11] for gravitation that includes all well known mechanical forces such
as Newton’s third law and the so-called fictive forces (such as the centrifugal
or Coriolis force). Weber’s law also incorporates Mach’s principle (the origin
of inertia is due to the gravitational interaction with the distant galaxies) and
therefore summarizes gravitational phenomena in a single equation easily accessible to undergraduate students. Even more, as we will show in this paper,
Weber’s force also includes the frame-dragging predictions of general relativity.
Weber’s law therefore seems to be an excellent starting point to teach the
concepts of mechanics and even higher order gravitational effects with simple
mathematics. As an example, we will show how frame-dragging or gravitational
induction works with Weber’s law and calculate the difference in the orders of
magnitude between electromagnetic and gravitational induction.
2
Electromagnetic Induction
According to Faraday’s law of induction (1831), the electromotive force emf
induced in a closed circuit C is given by
emf =
I
C
dΦB
F~ ~
· dℓ = −
.
q
dt
(1)
Here F~ represents the force acting on an electric charge q belonging to the
circuit, d~ℓ is RanR oriented infinitesimal length pointing along the circuit in each
~ · d~a is the flux of the magnetic field B
~ through the loop of
B
point, ΦB =
A
the circuit having a total area A, an infinitesimal area orthogonal to the loop
in each point of its surface is represented by d~a (with the directions of d~ℓ and
d~a connected by the right-hand rule), while t represents the time.
As a specific example we consider a spherical shell of radius R uniformly
electrified with a total charge Q spinning around the z axis passing through the
~ relative to an inertial frame of
center of the sphere with an angular velocity Ω
reference S. The center O of the coordinate system will be considered at the
2
~ and a magnetic
center of the shell. This situation produces a vector potential A
~ at a point ~r inside the shell given by, respectively:[12, 13, 14]
field B
~ = µo Q Ω
~ × ~r ,
A
12πR
(2)
~
~ = µo QΩ ,
B
6πR
(3)
and
where µo = 4π × 10−7 kgm/(A2 s2 ) is the permeability of free space.
It should be observed that the magnetic field inside this spherical shell is
uniform, having the same direction and intensity at all internal points.
Consider now a metal ring of smaller radius ro and larger radius r, with
ro ≪ r < R, centered at O and located in the xy plane orthogonal to this
magnetic field. The magnetic flux through the area A = πr2 of the ring is given
by ΦB = πr2 B = µo Qr2 Ω/6R. According to equation (1), the emf induced in
the ring is given by:
µo Qr2 dΩ
dB
=−
.
(4)
dt
6R dt
According to Ohm’s law, neglecting the self-inductance of the ring and considering the time interval in which the angular acceleration dΩ/dt remains constant, the current I induced in the ring having a resistance Ro is given by
I = emf /Ro .
A similar effect is known to exist in general relativity, although the calculations leading to this prediction are reasonably complex.[8, 15, 16] In this work we
present an alternative formulation of gravitational theory which also predicts a
similar effect, namely, Weber’s force.
emf = −πr2
3
Gravitational Induction with Weber’s Force
In the sequence of the paper we consider how it might be possible to produce
a similar effect with gravitation. We will be dealing only with neutral bodies
here, so that the electromagnetic forces can be neglected.
Consider a spherical shell of mass M and radius R which is spinning around
~ relan axis passing through the center of the shell with an angular velocity Ω
ative to an inertial frame of reference S. An internal test body of mass m is
located at a position vector ~r relative to the center O of the shell, moving with
velocity ~v and acceleration ~a relative to S. According to Weber’s law applied
to gravitation, the force exerted by this spinning spherical shell and acting on
the test body is given by:[9, 11]
#
"
~
2GmM
dΩ
~
~
~
~
F =−
,
(5)
~a + Ω × Ω × ~r + 2~v × Ω + ~r ×
Rc2
dt
3
where G = 6.67 × 10−11 m3 /kgs2 is the constant of universal gravitation and
c = 2.998 × 108 m/s is the velocity of light in vacuum. The second term
in the square bracket yields in non-inertial frames of reference the centrifugal
force, while the third term yields the Coriolis’ force, yielding a mathematical
implementation of Mach’s principle.[9, 10, 11]
In what follows we will consider that the test body of mass m belongs to a
ring of radius r centered at the center O of the spherical shell and located in
the xy plane, orthogonal to the direction z of the rotation of the spherical shell,
~ = |Ω|ẑ
~ = Ωẑ. The ring will be considered initially at rest and the position
Ω
vector of one of its elements can be represented in polar coordinates by (r, ϕ),
where ϕ is the azimuthal angle, figure 1.
z
Ω(t)
S
M
0
j
y
r
m
x
Figure 1: Spherical shell spinning around the z axis with an internal ring at the
equatorial plane.
We will be interested only in the azimuthal motion of the ring and how it
is influenced by a variable rate of rotation of the surrounding spherical shell.
Therefore the position, velocity and azimuthal acceleration of the test particle
can be represented by, respectively: ~r = rr̂, ~v = rϕ̇ϕ̂ and ~a = rϕ̈ϕ̂, where ϕ̂
is the unit azimuthal vector at the location of the particle. The component of
~ × (Ω
~ × ~r) points along the radial r̂ direction, the
the force F~ proportional to Ω
~ so that they will
same happening with the component proportional to 2~v × Ω,
not be considered in the sequence.
Combining equation (5) with Newton’s second law of motion, F~ = m~a, yields
the following equation describing the motion of the test particle in the azimuthal
direction:
−mW rϕ̈ + mW r
dΩ
= mrϕ̈ ,
dt
(6)
where mW = 2GmM/Rc2 is what we call Weber’s mass for this geometry.
By considering a spherical shell with R = 1 m and M = 100 kg it is easy to
see that m ≫ mW . We are then led to:
4
mW dΩ
2GM dΩ
=
.
(7)
m dt
Rc2 dt
This equation represents a gravitational induction. That is, whenever the
rate of rotation of the surrounding spherical shell changes as a function of time,
there will be an azimuthal force acting on each element of the internal ring. If
it is free to rotate around its axis and friction can be neglected, the ring will
undergo an induced azimuthal acceleration given by equation (7).
An interesting question which might be asked related to equation (7) is the
following gedanken experiment: Is the angular acceleration field propagating
inside the shell core? The answer to this question according to Weber’s law
applied to gravitation would require calculations which are beyond the scope
of this paper. In any event, it is relevant to remember here the deduction by
Kirchhoff and Weber, in the period 1849-1864, of the telegraphy equation based
on Weber’s electrodynamics.[17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24] When the resistance of the
wire was negligible, the telegraphy equation simplifies to the wave equation. The
wave equation obtained by Kirchhoff and Weber then predicted the propagation
of signals along the wire with light velocity. As Kirchhoff put it,[18, 21] the velocity of propagation of an electric wave “is independent of the cross-section, of the
conductivity of the wire, also, finally, of the density of the electricity: its value
is 41950 German miles in a second, hence very nearly equal to the velocity of
light in vacuo.” These works of Weber and Kirchhoff, based on Weber’s electrodynamics, were obtained prior to Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory of light in
the period 1864-1873.[25, 26, 27] One of the authors (AKTA) discussed these papers of Weber and Kirchhoff in more details in other works.[28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34]
The calculations of Weber and Kirchhoff utilized the interaction of two types
of charges, namely, positive and negative ones. As we have only one kind of
mass, it is not straightforward to extend their calculations to the case of purely
gravitational interactions, as is the case considered in the present paper. But
this is an interesting topic to be analyzed in the future.
In order to know if the induced angular accelerations predicted by equation
(7) would be relevant to the case of Earth internal geophysics, the Earth should
not be considered as a rigid body. After all, in this case there would be no
effects, according to Weber’s law applied to gravitation, which might be due to
a relative acceleration between interacting masses. In any event, it would be
valuable to highlight this possibility in the case of differential rotations of the
Earth shell (as the rotating sphere) and the Earth core (as the probing mass)
rotating at different angular velocities relative to an inertial frame of reference.
Additional research might be relevant in this case.
The effect described in this paper represented by equation (7) is analogous
to an electromagnetic induction with three main differences:
ϕ̈ =
• The first one is that the tangential acceleration of the ring will happen in
the same direction as the tangential acceleration of the surrounding shell.
In electromagnetism, on the other hand, the induced current will always
5
flow in a direction such that the flux it produces tends to cancel the change
of the external flux, according to Lenz’s law.
• The second difference is that the induced angular acceleration ϕ̈ will have
always the same value for all test masses, no matter the value of m. This
is similar to the linear acceleration of free fall in the gravitational field of
the Earth. The free fall acceleration does not depend on the mass of the
test body. This effect also demonstrates the validity of the equivalence
principle.
• The third difference happens in the order of magnitude of the effect. Electromagnetic induction has been known to exist since 1831 with Faraday’s experiments. It has a reasonably strong effect which is easily detected in the laboratory. By calculating the dimensionless magnitude
2GM/Rc2 of equation (7), on the other hand, we obtain with R = 1 m
and M = 100 kg the extremely small value of 2GM/Rc2 ≈ 1.5 × 10−25 .
Therefore, by changing the rate of rotation of the surrounding spherical
shell such that dΩ/dt = 1 rad/s2 we obtain ϕ̈ = 1.5 × 10−25 rad/s2 .
Such an extremely small angular acceleration cannot be measured in the
laboratory. Moreover, it would not even be produced in practice, due
to the inevitable presence of friction. In any event, as stressed before,
this effect might be relevant in the case of the differential rotation of the
Earth. If the spinning spherical shell is considered as the Earth mantle,
then 2GM/Rc2 ≈ ×10−11 . The test body might be considered the Earth’s
core. Therefore, this effect might be relevant for the Earth’s internal geophysics, as stated before.
Weber’s law complies with the principle of action and reaction. Therefore
the ring will exert an opposite torque in the spherical shell which will try to
decrease its changing rate of rotation. This effect is analogous to the mutual
inductance of classical electromagnetic theory.
Acknowledgments:
One of the authors (AKTA) wishes to thank the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany and Faepex-Unicamp of Brazil for financial support.
6
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